Do you gut your deer?

Gut out ASAP. Get the deer home, skin it out then go to cutting. If it’s warm out, after gutting it out, prop open the sides to help cool. Get it home and quarter it then in a fridge. The faster the better.

I gut my deer before dragging it out to the truck. Skin and quarter at home and place in cooler with ice if it’s not below freezing at night. The processor I use charges $60 for standard cuts of a skinned and quartered deer, or $120 for a whole gutted deer they have to skin. They are the only game in town and if you skin and quarter you can jump ahead in line, otherwise you might have to wait 4 or 5 days to drop your deer off.

I gut my deer where it falls. Then get it home and cool as quickly as possible. Hunting my own land, I’ll wait till it’s cold before killing a deer for meat. That way I can hang it for a couple of days.
I will not take a deer to the processor. I’m not sure anyone gets back the deer they drop off. I’m worried I’ll get the meat from some gut shot old deer left in the sun for a while.

Bang. Flop. Express thanks. Fill out tag. Gut deer. Open and cool. In that order.

Whether I then process the deer myself or have a butcher do it; whether I am in camp or in town, or on the road; in state or out of state, all the same. Meat quality is paramount. That is least we should do for the animal who will now feed us.

ADK Bigfoot

I have always field dressed any deer, Don't see any reason to be dragging any more then I have to and the coyotes and buzzards will clean it up. I do have it processed because I don't have the equipment to do it myself. The place I take it to will do that for $50. They actually charge more to process one that has been skinned, they sell the hides to a local leather company

When we kill a deer, we tag it and dress it before removing it from the woods. The heart is always a treat for that day. We process our own animals, my wife is a big help.

The Crisco Kid said:

Leave out in the sun ungutted for a few hours and then complain about how the meat tastes "wild". Doesn't make much sense but it happens a lot.

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Yes, I always thought the ‘wild taste’ I’ve heard people talk about as the reason they don’t like deer was half rotten meat. I work deer up as quick as I can, gut in the field before getting it out of the woods

Deer that haven't been gutted you see them bloated along the side of the road ..... Ewwww !!! I always gut my deer in the field and start the processing when I get home. I had a professional butcher do the last one as I wanted bone in steaks and I don't have an electric bone saw. Bone in keeps the meat from shrinking too much when cooking helping the deer to be more tender. Those steaks were great !!
Ohio Rusty ><>

Another thing that I do and have done the past 15 years or more is after quartering I keep the meat iced down for 4-5 days. I let the meat bleed out and drain the water daily. Then top off the ice as necessary.

A few years back the guy that owns the 40 next to me shot a really big buck, he gutted it and took it home and hung it in a tree,then went to the bar. Every day for about a month on my way to work I would see that deer, throughout rain, snow, freezing, thawing that deer hung there, one day it was gone. Come spring he stopped at the house and asked if my sled dogs ate venison, he said he cooked some but couldn't eat it. Dogs thought it was good. I gut my deer, skin and quarter asap.

I've gutted, skinned, cut and wrapped more deer than I can remember. Several pronghorn and a few elk too. I used to grind my own burger but not for years now. I take what I want ground to a butcher. Back when I was killing six deer and a couple pronghorn a year I could gut one in less than ten minutes. I'm too old to move that fast anymore. The only bad tasting deer I ever killed was young 4 point mule deer shot out of the sage in the Missouri Breaks.

I thought this was going to be a gutless method vs gutting thread. Those guys who won’t do anything with their deer don’t have much in common with me.

I do gutless method 90% of the time but if I happen to kill something super close to a road I will gut it. I haven’t taken anything to a processor in more than 15 years. This year my son started hunting and killed his first elk. By the end of the season, I was just about exhausted of cutting, grinding, stuffing sausage, and wrapping.

Things just keep getting weirder and weirder.

I've never taken a deer to a processor and never will, lord willing.
I've taken boned out meat to be made into summer sausage, but I'll cut up my own.
Most of the time I'm going to be cleaning the deer within a half hour of killing it. My stand isn't far from camp, and once it's down it gets taken out on an ATV. Dragging deer is for younger folks. If that's the case, I use the gutless method, peeling it down just enough to get the inner tenderloins out, but don't actually drop the guts.
If it's going to be a while (an hour plus) before I'm able to skin it, I gut it. I don't want it sitting marinating in the guts for hours. That's a recipe for some nasty tasting meat.

On our farm, deer are gutted & chest spread immediately, then carried to the house, chest cavity/abdomen cleaned & flushed, then hung before rigor mortis is fully set in. Post-mortem livido settles blood to the lowest part of the body, so hanging eliminates a great deal of strong taste caused by congealed blood/other fluids in odd cuts of meat. Hung overnight over kid's plastic wading pools.

Once we start touching actual "meat", hands are washed and surgical gloves come on. Same thing with all surfaces, knives, grinders, etc. Cooled in refrigerators first, then wrapped & frozen.

Someone mentioned meat mixed by processors. Many, if not most, do exactly that for sausage products and even some for ground venison. I drive 120 miles round trip to a processor that does every deer separately. I've seen a huge tub/grinder at a place where hunters brag about "their" deer sticks, summer sausage, etc. No thanks. Roadkill is roadkill no matter how much you spice it up. That place has trophies/awards/ribbons on the walls.

I hear of people hanging deer for a week or two then talk of all the tricks to get the gamey taste out. They also explain all the spies used in cooking. Fresh meat is tasty and tender whether deer, antelope, Buffalo or elk, I’ve been known to eat pieces as I field dress.

SciAggie said:

I gut my deer where it falls. Then get it home and cool as quickly as possible. Hunting my own land, I’ll wait till it’s cold before killing a deer for meat. That way I can hang it for a couple of days.
I will not take a deer to the processor. I’m not sure anyone gets back the deer they drop off. I’m worried I’ll get the meat from some gut shot old deer left in the sun for a while.

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Excellent post! I feel the same way. I do not want anyone touching the critters I kill for meat. And I’m sure as heck not paying a processing fee.

TDM said:

Another thing that I do and have done the past 15 years or more is after quartering I keep the meat iced down for 4-5 days. I let the meat bleed out and drain the water daily. Then top off the ice as necessary.

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The best tasting elk I ever killed was in knee deep snow. As soon as I got to it, I went to gutting and quartering. As I cut off the quarters and the other meat , I slid them down under the snow. Considering it was cold weather, the meat remained cold until I processed it. Everyone I gave some of that elk to stated it was the best elk they have ever tasted.

Unfortunately, that was the only big game critter I was able to take care of in such fashion. And none of the others tasted as good.

IMO, getting meat cooled down ASAP does, in fact, have a factor in taste.

I remember years ago when I first moved to Colorado. I was young but had been hunting in another state for several years. When I moved I did not have an old hunting license nor my proof of hunter’s safety certificate. Therefore, against my will, I had to take the course over in Colorado. The instructor was adamant about removing the hide and getting the elk meat cooled down as fast as possible. I never forgot that.

I have always field dressed the deer before dragging it out. The only thing I do different now, is sometimes I use a plastic sled to get the buck out of the woods.

I take them to a processor. I request certain cuts and such and then they call me when it is ready to pick up. I have seen deer at that same processor that have not been field dressed. They charge extra to do that. The only thing I can think of is the hunter either doesn't know how to do it, or just doesn't want to. I don't know why you would want to drag that extra weight and risk ruining that deer. It is not my favorite part of the hunt, but a necessary one.